New packaging solution for US poultry industry

Poultry processors in the United States, which is the world’s largest producer of poultry meat, are to benefit from a new skin pack aluminium tray and film combination in a bid to drive down food wastage linked to the sector.

The packaging has been designed both to boost convenience and also extend shelf-live so reducing the potential for food waste.

It has been developed by global packaging supplier Advanta, which said the skin pack was an excellent alternative to standard modified atmosphere packaging (MAP).

Spokesman Miguel Campos said: “The poultry is vacuum packed in the foil tray, eliminating oxygen and therefore increasing the shelf-life of refrigerated poultry – sometimes by up to 300%.

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“Retailers and manufacturers are increasingly opting for this type of packaging because longer shelf-life products result in reduced supply chain waste.”

The company feels that the increased demand for convenience has left a gap in the market for this type of packaging. The new packaging allows customer to peel back the plastic film surrounding the poultry, revealing the whole chicken in a foil tray ready to cook.

“Today’s consumers don’t want to touch the chicken before it is cooked. With Advanta’s new project, they don’t have this problem. A tray that allows poultry to be cooked directly in the packaging it comes in makes cooking a fuss-free process – it’s about the convenience.”

The new skin pack aluminium tray can withstand temperatures ranging from -40°C to 400°C, remaining shatterproof while frozen and rigid while in the oven. The tray is also 100% recyclable, providing a more environmentally friendly option as opposed to plastic tray alternatives.

The scale of poultry waste in the US was highlighted by the Pew Environment Group in its 2011 report, which said the 523m chickens produced each year in Maryland and Delaware generated roughly 42m cubic feet of chicken waste.

That figure is enough to fill the dome of the US Capitol about 50 times or once a week.